


Too Many Kittens

by Scrunchles



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animal Death, Kittens, M/M, Pre-Relationship, awful aus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3954505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scrunchles/pseuds/Scrunchles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by Submitted AU #195 from the awful-aus tumblr.  </p><p>Anders brings home a box of kittens and Fenris goes to give him a piece of his mind for not keeping them quiet.  Instead, he ends up as another surrogate for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Five Little Kittens

High pitched whines, persistent and grating pulled Fenris from sleep.  His brain told him that he had fallen asleep less than three hours ago.

 

He had to get up at five.  

 

He had to spend all day at some dead end job working under the table just to feed and house himself.

 

He did not have to deal with a neighbor's kitten mewling for food in the middle of the night because they were too damn lazy to get it on a damned feeding schedule.

 

Fenris pulled on pants, but left his chest bare.  Let his brands intimidate his neighbor into silencing their squalling charge.  He was stuck with them, they may as well be useful.

 

Fenris wrenched open his door and took two strides, still elven light, even in his anger.  His fist was hard, though, as he knocked on the door and waited.

 

Only the squealing answered him, and he knocked again, briefly considering just breaking the door.

 

"Coming!" called a voice from within, sounding harried.  Fenris hoped he had awoken the neighbor.  It served him right.

 

The man that opened the door, however, didn't look like he had slept a wink in three days and hadn't eaten in just as long.

 

"I'm sorry-- were they loud?"  A kitten was cradled in one hand, a syringe in the other.  Fenris suddenly realized that the man was wearing a housecoat, and his pockets were heavy.  One of them was writhing with a tail occasionally waving out and another kitten wailed, clinging to his thin shoulder and begging to be fed next.

 

An emaciated tabby slipped out from the interior of the skuzzy apartment and threaded through the man's legs, a halting purr rumbling from her chest.  Her teats were low to the floor, but they were obviously dry.

 

Another hungry voice yowled from the apartment.

 

It took Fenris all of two seconds to come to his decision.

 

"Do you need help?" He asked, reaching for the poor thing clinging to his neighbor's shoulder.

 

"Oh, Maker, that would be brilliant."  The man stood aside and allowed Fenris in once he had extricated the little claws from the material. 

 

The kitten in Fenris's hands attempted to suckle his finger and rather than scream in outrage at the lack of milk, it settled in to worrying at him with sharp milk teeth and purring.

 

It was used to sucking and finding nothing.

 

"We are not allowed to have more than two pets," Fenris reminded the man, entering the single room and immediately peeking into the box sitting on one of three pieces of furniture in the place. 

 

A table, a bed and a chair were all that the man had aside from the short counter bolted down in the tiny kitchenette.

 

Fenris took a syringe already filled with milk from the bowl on the table and wiggled his finger from the hungry kitten's hold.

 

"I'm so sorry."  His neighbor busily strutted back over to the box, lined with surprisingly clean towels, and gently began fishing kittens from his housecoat.  The lone kitten still yowling attacked its sleepy siblings as soon as they were set down, trying to lick and bite the remaining milk from their mouths, paws and chests. "Oh, Reginald..." he put the kitten he was currently feeding in one of his recently vacated pockets and picked up the angry brother.  "I can usually feed them two at a time and keep them on a rotating schedule so no one's unhappy, but I--"

 

"It's fine," Fenris cut him off, shaking his head.  He carefully fed milk from the syringe into the suckling kitten's mouth, trying to concentrate on not going too fast and wasting any, or too slow so that it felt it had to suck faster on the hard plastic.

 

"No, it's not.  If the Super' finds out--"

 

"He won't."  Fenris yawned, now that there was relative silence in the apartment.  Soft kitten purrs filled the silence, as well as the in-and-out rumble from the tabby winding her way around his legs.  Her nose tickled one of his bare toes briefly before she began her way around his legs again.

 

"I'm so sorry."  The man repeated meekly, after a few minutes more of silence.

 

Fenris sighed loudly.

 

"What is your schedule?" He asked pausing in his feeding to refill his syringe from the dish.

 

"My what?"

 

"Your schedule.  How often to you work and when?  We can work out...  _Something._ These little..." his tired brain had forgotten his anger, and he couldn't insult the kittens properly so he went with, "brats," just to avoid trailing off and looking like a tool at three in the morning.  "They need to eat every few hours.  I assume you cannot take them to work, so..." He motioned with his hands still holding and feeding the kitten, unable to believe he was trying to be so articulate with so little sleep.  "I want to help," he finished lamely.

 

"Well I don't work until three this evening," the neighbor said finally.

 

"Great, I can tell my boss to fuck off around four and make it back here by five."  His kitten was starting to look engorged, so he pulled the syringe away and scratched behind its ears.  He rubbed and stroked until the little purring bundle fell silent before slipping it in with the other two quiet kittens.

 

"I... thank you." 

 

"Yeah."  Fenris leaned his head back over the back of the chair and closed his eyes.

 

Blissful silence.  

 

He could probably get a few hours of sleep before his work started at six.

 

"My name is Anders, by the way," his neighbor said.

 

"Fenris," he grunted, unwilling to move from the spot.

 

"Are you going to--?"

 

" _Yes_."

 

"Alright, then.  I'll... Let you be, then."  Anders assured him before beginning to clean up the milk and rinse the syringes.

 

The tabby jumped up to lounge on Fenris's lap and curled up properly when he adjusted his legs to support her.

 

He didn't wake up again until his alarm blared through the thin wall separating their apartments.

 

A cup of tea sat in front of him with a note saying that it would give him energy and instructions on how to heat it up.

 

Another apology and thank you were at the bottom of the page before a scribble that might have started with an “A” signed off at the bottom.

 

Fenris glanced at the housecoated mound on the bare mattress in the corner, and fetched a blanket from his apartment to spread over him as he waited for the tea to warm in Anders’s microwave.

 

The tabby watched him from over the edge of the cardboard box, and he wondered what kind of cat food he could buy that was inexpensive but still healthy for the poor thing.

 

As he walked out the door clothed for work, he wondered what he had gotten himself into.  He didn’t have time to keep a friend, much less six pets and a co-parent.

 

He still bought the food, though, and some ingredients for a hearty soup for Anders.  It would keep well, and it was easy to simply heat up.

 

He was in too deep, but as he heard Reginald’s squall as soon as he stepped on their landing, he found he really didn’t care.

 

The kittens would be close to autonomous in a few months and then he and Anders would part ways.  That was how things went for him.

 

This time, it _wasn’t_ how things went.

 


	2. Four Little Kittens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fenris's first night with the kittens goes smoothly, but there are some things that not even force feeding can change.

When Fenris arrived home with cat food and take out, it was to a key slipped beneath his door and nothing else that he might have expected, like a note or a list of instructions.  It was the same make as his own, obviously for the silent apartment next door, but he hesitated.  Despite it being a clear invitation, he still felt uneasy about being alone in someone else's space. 

 

Biding his time, Fenris ate half of his dinner before packing up the rest and finally deciding that it was time to go.  He grabbed a book and a deck of cards to keep him company between feeding times before heading next door.

 

An unhappy meow greeted him when he unlocked Anders's door and the mother cat slipped out of the box to arch and puff up at him.  As much as a half-starved, mangy cat could puff up.  Fenris hissed at her, sending the cat scattering to growl beneath the bed before he walked over to the cabinets and found a small bowl to feed her with.  He left the bowl of food on the floor, then took stock of what had been left on the cabinet for him.

 

The syringes were clean and dry on a towel next to the sink and the tub of kitten formula had been left next to them. He methodically began to mix the formula using the information on the back of the tub before he filled the two syringes.  

 

He was silent as he gathered the box of sleeping kittens and set it next to the chair he had occupied last night.  He carefully selected the smallest one-- a little gray one he hadn't yet seen—to feed first.  It didn't make a sound as it was petted awake, which worried him.  He gently inserted the syringe in the side of its mouth and began feeding the delicate babe milk-substitute.

 

A soft squall gurgled through the formula.  The kitten was unhappy, hungry and weak, but still fighting.

 

Fenris smiled a little and gently forced the little thing to drink.  He didn't stop until it turned its head twice to weakly meow and fell asleep with a mouth full of milk, allowing it to drip down Fenis's palm and wrist.  He sighed and reluctantly sat the kitten down in a clean space within the box when he heard a hungry mewl from one of its siblings. While Fenris was feeding the second kitten, they all decided to wake up and demand attention.

 

The noise wasn't as bad as it had been that morning, soft mews instead of desperate shrieking, but Fenris still sent the other three kittens a glower as he refilled the two syringes and continued feeding the little yellow one he had in his hand.

 

The mother cat eventually crept out from beneath the bed, though Fenris didn't notice until he heard the crunch of food and a low, uneven purr.

 

"You're welcome," he told her, his thumb scratching the filling tummy of the kitten cradled in his hand.

 

Once the four larger kittens were well fed, he reawakened the littlest one and began to feed it again.  It was a little stronger, but not much.  It at least stayed awake long enough for him to get its belly decently full.

 

He rinsed and dried the syringes once all five little bellies were round and taut with milk and mostly played cards between feedings.  He ate the rest of his dinner several hours before midnight and began to take hour long naps between feeding times.

 

Fenris didn't leave until Anders came home in the early morning.  

 

He awoke when the door opened and sat up quickly.  He glanced at the door to make sure it was Anders who was entering before he stretched and cracked his neck with a groan.

 

"Good morning," Anders said cheerfully, setting a bag on the table before hurrying around to peek in the box and check on the kittens.

 

Fenris grunted in response and wondered how many more hours of sleep he could squeeze in before he had to leave for work.

 

"I brought some breakfast tacos from work.  The clinic always has them in the break room for the morning and night shifts," Anders told him, busily grabbing two plates and filling two glasses with water from a filtered pitcher in the fridge.

 

"I was..." Fenris wanted to decline without sounding rude, but he also didn't have anything edible in his apartment. 

 

"Thank you," he finally said as a plate and glass was set before him.  He was sure that the other man hadn't heard him the first time.

 

"No problem at all, especially since you're helping me out so much."  Anders shot him a haggard smile, and Fenris nodded at him, before realizing that he should probably talk to him about the gray kitten.

 

"The littlest one isn't doing well.  I was able to get it to drink 'til it was full at the first feeding, but I couldn't keep forcing it like that."  He hoped he hadn't done irreparable damage.

 

Anders's expression fell somewhat, and he sighed as he passed Fenris the bag.  "Yes, I've noticed that as well.  He's trying very hard, but..." He shrugged and put two wrapped tacos on his own plate once Fenris had set the bag between them on the table.  "Dig in, and take some home with you if you'd like.  I have another night shift tonight, so I'll be able to stock up on more."

 

"Thank you," Fenris said for the second time that morning.  It felt like it had been ages since he had interacted with anyone outside of work.  It had been at least a month since he had been able to hang out with his few close friends.

 

Anders just flashed him a tired, grateful smile before beginning to unwrap one of his tacos.

 

It was awkward or, at least, Fenris tried to convince himself that it was.  In truth, with the mother cat eating another bowl of food and the kittens quiet, it was peaceful.  

 

It was nice.

 

Fenris ate three tacos quickly, but wasn't planning on taking any with him--until Anders followed him to the door and shoved six more in his hands.

 

"Thanks again for taking care of them while I was at work.  I have work at five tomorrow, so...?"

 

"I still have the key," Fenris realized aloud.  "I'll stop in as soon as I get off of work again."

 

"Thank you so much, Fenris.  It really means a lot to me."  Anders smiled at Fenris again, and the elf reluctantly nodded before shuffling off to his own apartment.  

 

His thoughts were thick and cottony with lack of sleep. All he wanted was to get some sleep before he went to work again.

 

With the tacos in the fridge, and a soft mewing coupled with the soft cooing of Anders across the wall, Fenris drifted to sleep with a timer set on his phone.

 

Two hours later, Fenris rose to shower and get dressed for work.  His back ached from sleeping in Anders’s chair, but some stretching mostly cured it.  He ate a taco and packed four to eat at work before heading for the door.

 

He stepped on a slip of paper and unfolded it with a raised brow.

 

_Just realized we never exchanged numbers.  Here’s mine.  I’ll keep you updated on the little grey kitten._

 

Fenris stored the number in his phone and set the note in the bowl on the small table he kept next to the door for his keys and other important things.

 

It wasn’t until he was a few hours from getting off for the afternoon that he received the expected text from Anders:

 

_Took the little grey one to a vet friend.  He wasn’t going to make it much longer._

 

Fenris frowned at his phone and replied with a simple,  _thanks_.

 

He left work early enough that he could swing by Hawke’s house, and carefully navigated the man’s mother to get to the kitchen.  The refrigerator had three different kinds of ice cream in it.  Fenris took the newest flavor that hadn’t yet been delved into before leaving via the back door in an effort to avoid Leandra.

 

The walk to the apartments was short enough that Fenris wasn’t worried about the ice cream melting on the way.  Soon enough, he was knocking on Anders’s door.

 

“I brought ice cream,” he said, holding it up when the door opened and a red-nosed Anders peeked out at him.

 

Anders’s face brightened at the offering, and he opened the door further.  “Maker, you’re amazing.”

 

Fenris ignored the praise and was not smiling even a little as Anders took the tub from him.  Fenris closed the door behind him and moved to sit at the table while he waited for Anders to get two bowls and spoons.

 

The mother cat hopped up into his lap and purred as she butted his stomach with her head.  He petted her ears while waiting for Anders to finish getting two bowls and spoons for them.  He hadn’t even noticed that he was shifting his neck to try and pop it when a bowl was set before him and he felt gentle hands touch his shoulders.

 

He had to force himself not to overreact to the unexpected touch, and carefully reminded his flighty heart that this was Anders, he was (probably) a friend, and he was not going to knock him out and cart him back to Danarius.

 

“You should really stop sleeping in this chair,” Anders told him in a stern voice.  Fenris assumed that it was his “doctor voice,” and smiled a little.

 

“Is that a prescription?”

 

“If it’ll convince you not to.”  The man laughed and gently felt the back of his neck with a soft hum.  “Do you mind if I adjust this for you?”  He asked, putting one hand on the side of Fenris’s head and bracing the other on his shoulder.

 

“Sure,” Fenris shrugged, trying not to sound as uncertain as he felt.

 

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end when a warm hum flooded his neck and spine.  He panicked briefly at the distinct flow of magic, but then his neck cracked loudly, causing the mother cat to run off to the refuge of the bed, and it was gone.  He grunted at the lack of discomfort and jerked away from Anders's hands.  When he straightened his neck back out, Fenris felt a lot better from the base of his skull all the way down his spine; despite the fact that he had just allowed a  _mage_  to touch him.

 

“There.  When you watch the kittens over here in the future, feel free to take the bed.”

 

Fenris nodded slowly and rubbed the back of his neck as if he were trying to run away mud.  There wasn't a trace of magic left.  He could usually feel it against his lyrium branded palm and fingers.  "Thank you,” he said reluctantly, making a mental note to be more careful around the other man from now on.  His gut told him that the man was mostly harmless, but from his previous experience with mages, he wasn't taking any chances.

 

Anders flashed him a grin before beginning to eat his own ice cream.  “So, do you keep this in your freezer just waiting to cheer people up?” he asked.

 

“No, I actually stole it from a friend,” Fenris admitted, taking a bite of his own.

 

“You  _stole it_?” Anders asked, looking aghast.

 

Fenris smiled in spite of himself at Anders’s expression and waved off his concern.  “Don’t worry.  Hawke and I have an…  _interesting_  relationship.  I help him out with odd jobs and, providing that I can sneak it out past his mother, can have full reign of the fridge.  Among other things.”

 

Anders chuckled at that and sighed when one of the kittens woke up.  “Does your friend need a kitten or two?  I can’t keep all of these once they don’t need such intensive care.”

 

“No.  He has a Mabari, so small animals are not ideal,” Fenris replied.  “I could take two, however.  When they’re old enough to eat on their own and not need attention every few hours.

 

Anders perked up at that.  “That sounds great.  It’ll be a few weeks yet, but I’ll at least know that they’re going to a good home.”

 

Fenris looked down at his ice cream quickly and busied himself with consuming it.  He shouldn't have offered.  He should have just finished his time helping feed them during the night and left the mage to deal with it on his own.  The kittens weren't  _his_  problem, after all.  Fenris was just an innocent neighbor.

 

"Do you know which ones you might want?" Anders asked him after a long stretch of silence.

 

"The yellow one," he said without any thought. "I'm not sure about the other four.  Possibly one of the black ones, once we can tell the sexes."

 

"Hm, I hope I didn't name a girl Reginald.  That would be embarrassing," Anders mused.

 

Fenris wanted to smile, but there was still a tingle of anxiety in the skin on the back of his neck.

 

Fenris felt anger bubble up again as he finished his ice cream and stood.  "I've got some things to attend to at home.  Let me know when you leave and I'll come over."

 

"Oh." Anders's eyebrows dropped, but he still had that damned smile on his lips.  "Alright, then.  I'll knock on my way to the stairs."

 

Fenris nodded and quickly left.  His anger wasn't the usual mix of hate and distrust, though those two emotions were definitely there.  There was also the strange drag of disappointment too.  Fenris had genuinely enjoyed Anders's company.  The way he cared so much, and it was so admirable the way he was willing to take responsibility for six lives that weren't his to worry over.  Fenris would have never taken those kittens in.  It was too much trouble and not worth his time.  

 

Despite all the reasons Fenris had for liking his neighbor, he hadn't been forthright about being a mage, even before he had  _used_   _magic_ _on him_.

 

Fenris could be friends with a mage, Hawke was a testament to that, but he couldn't abide a mage unwilling to take responsibility for their curse.  Thus, any friendship with Anders could only lead to regret.

**Author's Note:**

> The original prompt was: “I hear meowing coming from next door and it’s 3 AM and I have to work tomorrow so I’m coming over to yell at you bUT WAIT you brought a box of kittens and their mother in from the cold and you’re adorable and so are they so let’s play with them before we take them to a shelter and maybe we’ll keep one and name it Butterscotch.” AU


End file.
